ABI Omo transfers stuck at 11 days

9 July 2010 0:00 am | Updated: 9 July 2010 4:29 pm | By Helen Pow

The trade body recorded average transfer times of 11 days in Q2, Q3 and Q4 of 2009.

Abbey Life and Windsor Life joined the service for Omo transfers in April and Scottish Life joined in July, bringing the total number of providers on board to 20.

Abbey Life was also among the providers to go live for pension to pension transfers along with Friends Provident, Axa and Nucleus. The total is now 13. Nucleus is the first wrap provider to join Options and the ABI says others are expected to follow shortly.

The service was also extended to occupational defined contribution pension scheme transfers in June.

More than 14,000 Omo and IVPP transfers were completed through Options in Q1 2010, up 53 per cent from the same period last year. The average transfer time has dropped 20 calendar days from a pre-Options industry average of 31 days.

The ABI says 36 per cent of transfers were completed in less than seven days and a further 47 per cent in less than 14. In Q4 2009, 40 per cent of cases were completed in less than seven days.

Average pension to pension transfer times have fallen from a pre-Options industry average of 36 days to 10 calendar days in the first quarter.

Over 9,000 pension transfers were completed in Q1, with 44 per cent of these completed in less than seven days and a further 44 per cent in less than 14 days, the ABI says.

ABI director of life & savings Maggie Craig says: “The initiative has handled major increases in volumes and participating providers with ease and in the case of pension transfers, even delivered improvements on the previous quarter. This is testament to the efforts of participating providers and Options itself.”

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